A
Chinese child’s goal in life is to make their mother and father proud and to bring
honor to their family. For Jing-Mei Woo, this meant fulfilling her mother Suyuan
Woo’s legacy which was to find her long lost twin daughters that she was forced
to abandon in China years ago. She died before she could accomplish her goal,
leaving Jing-Mei to finish where she left off. Although the journey was emotionally
difficult, the legacy was eventually fulfilled; it began with Suyuan and ended
with Jing-Mei.
Suyuan lived happily with her family
in China but all that happiness was shattered when the Japanese began bombing
the town. Because she had a forewarning, Suyuan managed to escape carrying a
few possessions: two trunks, a few bags of food, and her twin daughters. She
dropped the trunks after a while. Next, she left the bags. She was sick and
dying but she couldn’t bring it upon herself to see her daughters die with her
so she left them on the side of the road in hopes that someone kind-hearted would
find them. She left a note and walked further down the road until she fainted.
When she awoke she was in a new place and her daughters were not there. A few
years after going to America, she returned to China to search for her daughters
and wrote letters to old friends inquiring about the twins and if they have
seen them. But the twins had just disappeared.
Three months after Suyuan’s death, the
Joy Luck Club came in contact with the twins. The twins had written a letter
explaining they wanted their mother to come visit them and told her of their
lives. They had be
en
cared for by a religious couple and were recognized by Suyuan’s old friend. The
Joy Luck Club decided to write a letter back and signed it with Suyuan’s name.
It wasn’t until both letters had been received and sent, that Jing-Mei was made
aware about her sisters communication. The women in the Joy Luck Club told Jing-Mei
she must deliver the news of their mother’s death in person but after many
nights of contemplating, she had Lindo write a letter informing them of Suyuan’s
death.
Prior to her arrival in Shanghai,
China, Jing-Mei was anxious about meeting her sisters. She was going to see her
sisters for the first time ever. As soon as she stepped off the plane, Jing-Mei
spots them. The three of them run towards each other and embrace in a hug as
Jing-Mei’s fathers captures the moment in a picture.
Suyuan
translates to “long cherished wish”. Jing
translates to “pure essence”; mei
translates to “younger sister”. Before meeting her sisters, Jing-Mei believed
she was supposed to be the essence of the twins and that was her mother’s wish.
However seeing the twins for the first time she knew they were family and that the
past could be forgiven. Jing-Mei realized that this was truly her mother’s long
cherished wish and now Suyuan’s legacy had been fulfilled.
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